Shrek

For younger viewers, they might not understand the impact of "Shrek" on the film industry and CGI movies. However, being an older guy, I remember how groundbreaking and amazing the computer animation was when the film debuted. It was head and shoulders better than the few CGI movies that had come out in the previous decade...and it finally gave Pixar a serious run for the money. In addition, the plot was very adult...and the film's appeal was much greater than a typical CGI story. Great animation, great story telling and great voice acting, while the movie isn't quite impressive to see today, it still holds up very well and is well worth your time.

I could easily say more but this film has over a thousand reviews....so I'll just end it here!

Shrek is one hell of an animated ride, and right when you're certain you know where to expect the next gag it one ups you. If you need a reason to see Shrek, here is that reason: imagine Eddie Murphy as an annoying not to mention obnoxious talking donkey. Yeah. Eddie Murphy gives Robin Williams a serious run for his money in terms of greatest animated side kick. From there we get Mike Myers voicing a big green ogre, who plays off Eddie Murphy with perfect comedic timing like the two were meant to do this film together.

Shrek is merciless in its humor. Targeting everything from fairy tales to Disney films to narrative clichés to bad puns, sliding in its own commentary, all the while giving the typical fantasy story a few modern twists and turns to deliver a strangely original unoriginal story with original unoriginal characters . . . that doesn't make sense, but Shrek does, does it well, and doesn't care. And you never know where this humor is going to come from, either – either visual gag, musical nod, or spoken dialogue. All three provide their share of narrative and commentary to the concepts in Shrek.

I think the beauty of Shrek is it's taken the typical fairy tale (which all of us have heard), and it answers the silly 'what if . . .' and 'why don't they ever . . .' questions we tend to ask. But that's not the core of the story - the core of this story is the friendship between Shrek and Donkey, which works in a funny goofball, but touching and unique way. If the audience can buy into Shrek and Donkey's relationship to one another, then they can believe entire film (which more or less focuses on the adventure the two share together). True, Shrek has a love theme . . . but it's Donkey and Shrek who sustain the film through most of the picture.

As for Cameran Diaz and John Lithgow, while not on screen as much as our two heroes, still play an important role. I wouldn't want to downplay Lithgow and Diaz who do bring their respective characters to life, but Shrek is a tale about an enduring friendship with a romance story on the side.

9 OUT OF 10!!!! We went to catch the matinee preview of "Shrek". We were still giggling by the time we got home afterwards. Two hours later, we dragged a friend out and went back for the evening show. Some of the shock value was lost, but we caught a few of the background sight gags we missed the first time, and anticipation of some of the other scenes had us in tears before they even happened. Interesting to see the different audience reactions of different age groups, too. This is a *very* funny movie, but it should be noted that most of the kiddy humour is on the burp/fart and yucky dining habits level - Shrek is rather closely related to Raymond Briggs' Fungus the Bogeyman without the orange mohawk. The dialogue and main action quips are mainly aimed at adults and sophisticated kids. One little voice in the afternoon audience piping up "WHAT's he compensating for?" cracked me up...

Be warned that this movie is a non-stop send-up of all things Disney. If predictability and saccharine is your cup of tea, you may not like it. On the other hand, if you are cynical about theme parks and like the idea of fairytale classics getting the Monty Python treatment, you'll love it. Every time a scene looks familiar, it means it is about to go pear-shaped. And it's not just old classics that get the treatment. I spotted (mis)quotes from films that are just being released, both Disney and non-Disney. You name it, it gets an affectionate pie in the face at some point in "Shrek".

As a fairytale, however offbeat, "Shrek" is tighter plotted and better characterised than most Hollywood dross.The parodic twists, a love story subplot that owes more to Shakespeare's comedies than fairytale formula, and the "ugly is the new beautiful" Message more than make up for the derivativeness due to extensive quotation.

As for the acting, confinement to voice-overs keeps the egos of Myers and Murphy in check, and they do a fantastic job as the big fat green smelly recluse and the obnoxiously manic donkey respectively. Diaz is great as a feisty princess who reminds me of Lloyd Alexander's Eilonwy crossed with Lara Croft. Lithgow's Farquaad is a wonderful Bad Guy, modelled on Olivier's Richard III apart from his Little Problem being different. And the Fairytale Creatures...excellent, all of them. The graphics, of course, are state of the art for at least another 2 weeks. We're talking freckles, skin pores and stubble, pupil dilation, and amazing light-and-shade. They had to tone down the realism of the humanoids to stop them looking creepily android-like.

Highly recommended, except for overly precious schmalz addicts.

I'm an old dude, 75 to be exact, and in my working days I was everything from a mainframe programmer to a HiTech startup Tech Admin. This sentence is here only to show why I am interested in the productions of Dreamworks and, of course, Pixar. Coming from a computer background permits me to be very, very impressed with the wonderful skill and creativity that go into making movies such as Shreck.

Now then: The movie itself is marvelous! The characters are gentle and funny; there is no gratuitous violence; there are innuendos, of course, but skillfully done in a way that the "libretto" if you will can be "read" at least two levels. The story line itself is charming, and the ending is a real, nifty surprise!

I add here that I've watched this with my younger G_Kids, who loved it; and also with my bride of fifty years, who loved it.

It is in all ways in a class with the best that Mr. Jobs has so far produced, which is saying a great deal.

HIGHLY recommended as good, funny, charming entertainment for a whole bunch of ages.

Nick Fortis Los Altos California

"Shrek" is fun. People who haven't seen this movie, and are wary of seeing what's popular, should give it a try. It's worth watching, and will probably win you over.

Taking a Fractured Fairy Tale approach to a "Beauty And The Beast"-type plot, throwing in a few mild profanities, flatulence jokes, and Michael Myers' over-the-top faux-Scots accent, "Shrek" shows off a very snarky humor, full of jokes that will likely go over the heads of a cartoon's target audience while registering with their parents. 'Sure it's big enough, but look at the location,' Shrek observes upon seeing a giant castle in the middle of nowhere. The kids, though, will love 'Shrek' every bit as much. It's impossible not to be carried along by its merry madness.

Myers, as the title character, is certainly easier to take than he was in his last Austin Powers movie, his voice work registering real tenderness as well as the expected laughs as a misunderstood ogre who would rather tell a group of frightened villagers about the cruelties he will inflict on them and their dead bodies than cause those villagers any genuine harm. He's a bit of a softie, actually, and scared to let anyone know it.

Cameron Diaz is as beautiful to listen to hear as she is to look at in her other films. Her character, Princess Fiona, doesn't have as much room to shine as Shrek (the balance turns out better in the sequel) but she does well with what she's given.

The comic highpoints in terms of voice characterization is Eddie Murphy as Shrek's donkey companion and John Lithgow as nasty Lord Farquaad, who wants to rid his domain of Duloc of all fairy tale creatures. Murphy never stops being funny even as he helps set up key plot moments; in fact he's never been this funny since the first "Beverly Hills Cop" movie. "We can stay up late, swapping manly stories, and in the morning, I'm making waffles," the donkey tells a much put-upon Shrek, and you still laugh the fifth time you hear it. Lithgow just makes you smile whenever he opens his mouth, like when he grills a hapless gingerbread man in such a convoluted way it turns into a nursery-rhyme recitation.

Why exactly Farquaad is grilling this gingerbread man so closely isn't clear, and there are similar plot holes throughout the movie. Shrek may be too tame a character; we never really feel any worry around him. The donkey falls into a relationship with a dragon that screams "plot convenience," and there are strange little bits of cruelty, like turning a frog and snake into balloons, which just is thrown out there and let be.

But the central story, about how Shrek and Fiona struggle to overcome the odds and find true love, is really sweet and well-rendered. The animation is spectacular, a revolution for the eyes in its deep-dish panoramas and remarkable attention to textures. And the jokes keep flying, the major ones as well as hilarious bits of filigree you won't notice the first or second time but reward you for paying attention.

This is not a Disney movie, something "Shrek" makes very clear not only with its PG-13 humor but its knocks at Disney characters like Snow White and at the Magic Kingdom in the form of Duloc, where an array of "It's A Small World"-type dolls lecture Shrek and Donkey on all the things NOT to do. Frankly, "Shrek" could use a little injection of Disney heart, but Disney could use some of this picture's freshness as well. A very charming movie worth your time.